Exercise-Mediated Autophagy and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming one of the major clinical burdens of liver diseases worldwide [1]. In many developed countries and regions, the incidence of NAFLD is much higher than that of various infectious liver diseases, and it affects 20–40% of the global population [2]. The strong correlation between NAFLD and type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) makes it complicated for the prevention and treatment of these diseases. A meta-analysis including 49,419 cases of T2DM patients with NAFLD describes the global prevalence rate of 55.5% for NAFLD [3]. The even more worrying is the pandemic of NAFLD in children, which is closely related to the development of adult cirrhosis, T2DM, and cardiovascular diseases [4]. Despite the high prevalence of chronic diseases in the world, the pathogenesis of NAFLD is complicated and remains unknown. Moreover, there are series of problems including side effects of current drugs. Taken together, there is an urgent need to develop new treatment strategies that are safe and feasible. Therefore, comprehensive investigation of the pathogenesis of NAFLD can be beneficial for its early diagnosis and treatment.